Fundamentals of e-Government Strategy Process Instruments

1. Fundamentals of e-Government Strategy Process Instruments Bernd W. Wirtz Peter Daiser Part two Chapter 3

2. The Concept and Strategy of E-Government

3. The first force of the e-government model is Convergence and Technology: convergence describes the approximation of underlying technologies, diminishing تناقص)) sector boundaries, networking of different public and non-public areas of value creation, and finally, an integration of sectors, business units, organizations, products, and services (Denger and Wirtz 1995). Depending on the respective level of aggregation, convergence can be divided into different types

4. The second force is State and Politics: From a this point of view, ongoing denationalization of countries as well as regional coalescenceالتحام ) ) of markets and nations require adequate (كاف)technological preconditions for transnational cooperation on political and administrative level. These have to be created by the respective governments( الحكومات المعنية ) . E-government is a suitable answer to tackle يعالج)) this challenge since it is an Internet-based solution and thus provides the possibility to quickly establish an online environment that allows government-user interaction on a global scale.

5. The third force is Society and Economy: Its key drivers are globalization, digital divide, demographic change, and urbanization(التحضر). • Digital divide describes differences in access to and use of information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, between individual social groups with distinct technical (تقنية متميزة ) and socio-economic factors. Key hypotheses are that (1) the use of modern information and communication technology is not distributed evenly within society since its access depends on social factors and that (2) this unequal situation leads to social disparities ((الفوارق الاجتماعية of opportunity.

6. The forth driving force of the e-government development is Citizen Empowerment. This change in the public environment mainly concerns the citizens themselves. The rising transparency and accountability of public actions and the possibility that citizens can locally, regionally, and nationally unite in social networks and communities, exchanging their desires and opinions, all became possible due to modern information and communication technologies.

7. In the light of the aforementioned four driving forces of e-government, an integrated management approach is mandatory to handle the multitude of interrelated impacts and related activities. Against this background, the E-Government Value Activity system (EVAS) is outlined in the following:

8. E-Government Value Activity System (EVAS) • Value activity systems are based on the concept of the value chain, which describes a set of organizational activities performed to deliver a product or service to the market. The value chain concept was developed in management research and first described by Michael E. Porter.1

9. The underlying idea of the value chain is based on a process view of organizations. From this perspective, an organization is a system made up of subsystems that transform input factors into outputs. The effectiveness and efficiency of the associated activities, which are needed for the transformation process, finally determine the costs and the profit of the organization

10. Given an exemplary e-government value chain (see Figure 12), its activities may consist of (1) content and service concept, (2) content and service development, (3) technological distribution, (4) marketing and user relationship management, and (5) e-payment

11. The first step of the value chain deals, for example, with content and service selection for as well as layout and design of the e-government portal. In the next steps, the respective content and services have to be developed and their technological distribution needs to be set up (e.g., pull vs. push concept). • The marketing and user relationship-related step of the value activity is of vital importance. Here, the access to the user is determined, which requires customer oriented marketing and relationship measures. Finally, the imposed fees and charges have to be processed, which completes the value chain activity. This exemplary value chain sequence is presented in the following figure.

12. RSS (Really Simple Syndication ) is a type of web feed which allows users and applications to access updates to online content in a standardized, computer-readable format.

13. E-government is often referred to as a comprehensive approach to elaborate citizen-oriented public services and enhance public administration effectiveness and efficiency. Thus, it is an important element of public management reform programs across the world. • Despite e-government’s online character, it is not a completely virtualized system since also procedures and operations behind the software need to be managed. Hence, efficient and goal-oriented e-government requires solid underlying routines, processes, and structures

14. For this reason, the EVAS model is based on a value activity perspective of public authorities that outlines an e-government system, which is made up of subsystem activities that have specific inputs, transformation operations, and outputs, which involve acquisition or consumption of human, financial, or knowledge resources. Therefore, the better the individual processes are managed, the more efficient the e-government system runs.

15. Regarding the EVAS model, we first have to differentiate between the Information Transaction-Service (ITS) Front Desk, which is the front line part of the public sector organization with a direct client connection, and the Administration-System-People (ASP) Back Desk, which deals with internal or supporting activities of the public sector organization without a direct client connection. • The two key activities in the ITS Front Desk are E-Service Provision( (توفير, which is subdivided into Information Services and Transactional Services, consisting of Partial and Full Online transactions, and E-User Relationship Management (E-URM), showing an integrated e-government user relationship process.

16. If people believe that their personal information is not stored or processed confidentially and securely, they will tend to oppose (عارض) e-government-related online data storage and processing since—especially for transactional offers—a certain level of trust is necessary (Bélanger and Carter 2008). • E-file and document management deal with electronic and paper-based administration of files, documents, and records. In this context, especially the e-government-driven conversion……..

17. …….from paper-based work to the paperless organization (e.g., introduction of electronic citizen files) causes complex, extensive ( واسع) conversion procedures in the public sector. • من العمل الورقي إلى المنظمة الخالية من الورق (على سبيل المثال ، إدخال ملفات المواطن الإلكترونية) يسبب إجراءات تحويل معقدة وموسعة في القطاع العام.

18. Controlling, Monitoring, and Reporting activities are constantly required for keeping track of the overall e-government workflow system and for a consistent and sustainable management .These activities can be broken down into a strategic and an operative component. Key aspects of the longer-term oriented strategic controlling are planning, information, and early warning purposes, while the operative monitoring part focuses on target-performance comparisons for result-oriented steering and control of the overall e-government system

19. Controlling, Monitoring, and Reporting activities require appropriate standards as a basis for measurement and an integrated, automated performance measurement system. Furthermore, a common understanding of the potential implications of downtime due to system crashes, failure, or mistakes should be present throughout the group of responsible e-government officers (Wirtz et al. 2014).

20. E-Procurement is the integration of network-based information and communication technology to support operational and strategic activities that are required to supply the necessary inputs that are not self-created by the organization. Its main target is the reduction of procurement cost, which is partly offset by e-procurement system investments and maintenance cost as well as training cost for employees

21. E-Invoicing is supposed to close the payment gap in otherwise consistent transactions support all relevant legal requirements. The widespread introduction of an electronic invoice processing system that allows sending and receiving electronic invoices without media breaks shall ensure significant gains in efficiency and make a notable contribution to sustainable economic and increased competitiveness.

22. E-Invoicing forms the basis for the next step in electronic payment, integrated e-payment systems that enable users to pay invoices directly from web applications. However, these fundamental changes in processes and procedures need to be implemented and managed on a strategic as well as an operative level for successful and efficient e-government. For this reason, E-Invoicing is an important, developing activity that requires intensive care.

23. Given the E-Government Value Activity System, its associated value activities need to be managed in a systematic way. Referring to Chandler (1962), structure follows strategy and thus strategic management is required to effectively and efficiently lead and operate the e-government value activities.